mac mini performance

Discussion in 'Buying Tips, Advice and Discussion (archive)' started by mak, Feb 22, 2005.

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  1. mak, Feb 22, 2005

    mak macrumors member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2005
    #1
    hi,

    i can get a good deal on mac mini with 1 GIG of Ram.

    should i opt for 1.25 / 40hdd (faster drive?) or 1.42 / 80gb hdd ?

    both will have a gig of ram and no other BTO add-ons.

    with beefed up ram how will the mac mini perform when using:

    Photoshop - image creation for websites / posters etc
    Illustrator - image creation for websites / posters etc
    Macromedia Dreamweaver - website creation
    Macromedia Flash - website creation
    Macromedia Director - creating interactive cd-roms / dvds
    iMovie - creating sub 1 hour movies
    iDvd - interactive dvd for presenting movies made
    iPhoto - store all my high res pics
    Garageband - use to add music to movies created

    also for java / jsp / mySql and few other things

    as you see needs are for: website creation / imaging / video / sound

    what do people think?

    i will use this machine for 6-12 months and then go purchase a g5 powermac when new versions are out. by that time i will use the programs extensively.

    i could then pass on machine to someone else or just keep it depending on financial situation.

    i just want to know what people's thoughts are? has anyone got a mini with same spec and use the above programs? how do you find it?

    i just want a quiet stable setup which works away at the above programs well for a limited budget.

    thanks,
     
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  2. yellow, Feb 22, 2005

    yellow Moderator emeritus

    yellow

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2003
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    #2
    I think with all the things that you want to do with this Mac, and the computationally intensive nature of quite a few of them, you really need to get as fast a mini as you can, therfore the 1.42GHz G4.
    Plus, you will need the extra disk space for all that you want to do.
     
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  3. mak, Feb 23, 2005

    mak thread starter macrumors member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2005
    #3
    there must be more mac mini users who can help with the above?

    thanks,
     
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  4. yellow, Feb 23, 2005

    yellow Moderator emeritus

    yellow

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2003
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    #4
    The mini hasn't been out long, and it's quite popular at the moment, so there's not a lot of them out there. I think you need to be patient for a while and let more people pick one up and use it first.
     
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  5. chan0429, Feb 23, 2005

    chan0429 macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2005
    #5
    I don't honestly think the 170 Mhz will be that big of a deal... but according to the benchmarks it doesn't hurt. So if you're getting a steal either way might as well get the 1.42.

    I hear the 40GB HD is random, like I've heard some people say it comes with a 4200rpm and others a 5400 rpm. I've also heard that the 80gb HD spins at 4200rpm has a large cache (8MB or something like that) making the performance differences between the two negligible (if the 1.25 is at 5400 that is). You can negate all of that by buying a Toshiba 2.5 7200RPM 60GB drive.

    For another performance boost [I think] you could also get an external firewire HD and in some of the applications you've specified you can set it as your scratch disk.

    But I think one of the biggest performance boosts you can get is from getting the 1GB of RAM like you're talking about; that way you can limit the amount of time it needs to even touch the HD.

    Hope you make bank on whatever project you're working on so you can bump yourself to a dual G5 machine.

    I ordered the 1.25 model crossing my fingers that it'll come with a 5400rpm drive as opposed to the 4200rpm drive. If it comes with the 5400rpm drive I'll leave it be otherwise I might get the Toshiba drive and pop it in [budget willing].

    Like many others I'm going order 1GB off of newegg for 150 bucks. I'm going to get a firewire enclosure for an extra 80GB 7200rpm HD I have in my PC for when I'm pulling [my wedding] video off a borrowed DV camcorder.
     
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  6. chv400, Feb 23, 2005

    chv400 macrumors 6502

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2003
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    #6
    You could always just get the 1.25 and wait for your warrenty to run out and overclock it... :rolleyes:
     
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